Assembling steps for a wheel for a bicycle include:
(a) aligning step PA0 (b) leasing step PA0 (c) transfer step to a temporary tightening device PA0 (d) temporary tightening step PA0 (e) fastening step for temporarily tightened spokes PA0 Japanese Patent Publication No. 11744/1978 PA0 Japanese Patent Publication No. 11745/1978, PA0 Japanese Patent Publication No. 49762/1981 PA0 Japanese Patent Publication No. 11744/1978 PA0 Japanese Patent Publication No. 11745/1978, PA0 Japanese Patent Publication No. 11746/1978, PA0 Japanese Patent Publication No. 12685/1982 PA0 Japanese Patent Publication No. 48569/1981, PA0 Japanese Patent Publication No. 30747/1977. PA0 (Japanese Patent Publication No. 49762/1977, PA0 Japanese Patent Publication No. 11744/1978, PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 4,187,895, and PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 4,185,678) PA0 (Japanese Patent Publication No. 11746/1978) PA0 (U.S. Pat. No. 4,187,895) PA0 (Japanese Patent Publication No. 12685/1982, PA0 Japanese Patent Publication No. 48569/1981)
In prior art, the aligning step is disclosed in
the leasing step is disclosed in
the transfer step for transferring an assembly of a hub and spokes already subjected to leasing to the temporary tightening device is disclosed in
the temporary tightening step is disclosed in
and
the fastening step for temporary tightened spokes is disclosed in.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,185,678, 4,187,895 and the like may also be listed.
These prior arts will now be described.
(1) Aligning step
(Japanese Patent Publication No. 11744/1978) PA1 (Japanese Patent Publication No. 11745/1978)
See attached FIGS. 7 and 8:
In conventional aligning apparatus, as shown in FIG. 7, a temporary assembly (hereinafter referred to as a temporary assembly D) of a hub H and spokes prior to leasing is rotated at a rotational speed to an extent that a predetermined centrifugal force acts on the spokes to thereby radially align the spokes whereas an annular retaining body E provided concentrically with the temporary assembly D is rotated at the same speed as and in the same direction as that of the temporary assembly D to retain the aligned spokes in their attitude by means of a retaining portion of the retaining body E provided at a position coincided with a tip of the spoke.
As shown in FIG. 8, in the upper edge of the retaining body E are provided in a predetermined order a first notch 51 for retaining a first spoke 21 positioned on the upper surface side of one spoke mounting plate 11 of the hub, a second notch 52 for retaining a second spoke 22 positioned on the lower surface side, and a third notch 53 for retaining a third spoke 23 positioned on the upper surface side of the other spoke mounting plate 12 and a fourth notch 54 for retaining a fourth spoke 24 positioned on the lower surface side. Thus, when the upper end edge of the retaining body E is raised toward the spokes while rotating the retaining body E in the same direction as and at the same speed as the rotation of the hub when the respective spokes have been radially aligned by the rotation of the temporary assembly D, the spokes are fitted into the corresponding notches whereby the spokes of the temporary assembly D are held radially aligned.
However, in prior art arrangement, when the hub H of the temporary assembly D is rotated while maintaining it in the upright attitude, the relationship between the retaining body E and the hub has to be preset properly. More specifically, this involves an inconvenience that the temporary assembly D has to be set so that the first spoke mounting part in the spoke mounting plates and the first notch 51 of the retaining body E are radially opposed to each other.
This results from the fact that the respective spokes are to be retained by the notches formed in the upper end edge of the retaining body E while rotating the retaining body E and the hub H in the same direction and at the same speed.
(2) Leasing step (laced crossing step)
See attached FIGS. 10, 11, 12 and 13:
Spokes to be mounted on the hub H are divided into four kinds of spokes as noted below in terms of the relationship between a pair of first and second spoke mounting plates 11, 12 provided on the hub. (See FIGS. 10 and 11.)
First spoke extending from the outer surface side of the first spoke mounting plate 11 toward the rim R . . . 21.
Second spoke extending from the inner surface side of the first spoke mounting plate 11 toward the rim R . . . 22.
Third spoke extending from the inner surface side of the second spoke mounting plate 12 toward the rim R . . . 23.
Fourth spoke extending from the outer surface side of the second spoke mounting plate 12 toward the rim R . . . 24.
Among these four spokes, the first and second spokes 21 and 22 are extended in a crossed state from each other, and the third and fourth spokes 23 and 24 are mutually adjusted in a crossed state.
The method for mutually crossing a set of spokes (leasing method) as described above has already been proposed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 49762/1981. This conventional method is employed as a method for leasing spokes of a wheel for a motor cycle, inw hich in accordance with the method disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 11744/1978, a temporary assembly D having spokes radially aligned from the hub H is provided, the tips of spokes in the temporary assembly D are separately supported by the respective supporting annuli at every group of the aforesaid four groups of the spokes, and each supporting annulus is individually turned in a predetermined direction, as shown in FIG. 5.
According to this conventional method, first, the first spokes 21, 21 are supported by the respective supporting portion 36 of the first supporting annulus 31 disposed concentrically with the temporary assembly D, the second spokes 22, are supported by supporting portion 36 of the second supporting annulus 32 positioned continuous to and downwardly of the first supporting annulus 31, the third spokes 23 are supported by supporting portion 36 of the third supporting annulus 33 and the fourth spokes 24 are supported by suppouting portion 36 of the fourth supporting annulus 34, as shown in FIG. 12.
Subsequently , when the first and fourth supporting annuli 31 and 34 are normally rotated through a fixed angle and the second and third supporting annuli 32 and 33 are reversely rotated through a fixed angle, the first spoke 21 and the second spoke 22, and the third spoke 23 and fourth spoke 24 are crossed as shown in FIG. 13.
With this arrangement, leasing is carried out so that the first spoke 21 is positioned externally of the second spoke 22 and the fourth spoke 24 is positioned externally of the third spoke 23, which leasing cannot be used to effect leasing of a wheel for a bicycle without modification.
Because in the wheel for a bicycle, in the crossed portion between the first and second spokes 21 and 22, the first spoke 21 is positioned internally of the second spoke 22, and in the crossed portion between the third and fourth spokes 23 and 24, the fourth spoke 24 is positioned internally of the third spoke 23.
(3) Transfer step to a temporary tightening device
See attached FIGS. 17, 18 and 19:
Assembling of the wheel comprises an aligning step for radially aligning spokes inserted into the hub H, a leasing step for crossing the spokes from the previous state, a temporary assembling step for inserting an assembly of the hub H and the spokes already subjected to leasing (hereinafter referred to as an assembly K) to screw the respective spokes to the rim, and a final fastening step for finally fastening spoke nipples of the wheel in the aforesaid temporarily assembled state.
In this assembling step for the wheel, the assembly K needs to be transferred when the step is shifted from the leasing step to the temporary assembling step. In prior art, the transfer apparatus (Japanese Patent Publication No. 11746/1978) as shown in FIGS. 17 to 19 has been employed.
This conventional apparatus comprises a locating means 2A for retaining the foremost ends of spokes in the leasing state in correspondence to the spoke arrangement of the assembly K, a hub clamping means 3A for clamping the hub H, a lift means 4A for integrally raising both said means, and a travelling means 5A for horizontally moving said whole body along rails 563.
The above-described means are utilized to transfer the assembly K of the wheel provided with a large hub such as a motor cycle. The hub H is clamped by the hub clamping means 3A, a locating element 223 of a stationary frame 213 constituting the locating means 2A and an engaging element 243 of a rotatable frame 233 are operated as shown in FIGS. 18 and 19 to locate the respective spokes, the whole body is raised by the lift means 4A, and thereafter it is transferred by the travelling means 5A to a predetermined position.
With this arrangement, both the hub H and the foremost ends of spokes are clamped during the transfer of the assembly K, and the load of the assembly K is mainly borne by the hub clamping means 3A. Therefore, the assembly K is never disengaged from the transfer apparatus during the transfer. However, it is difficult to employ this arrangement for the transfer of the assembly K of the wheel for a bicycle without modification.
This results from the fact that the hub for a bicycle is extremely small in diameter as compared with that of a motorcycle to make it difficult to correspond clamping pawls 313, 313 of the hub clamping means 3A to the hub H, and if an attempt is made to support the load of the assembly K by these clamping pawls, the safety of the transferring attitude of the assembly is impaired.
(4) Temporary tightening step
See attached FIG. 23: In order to incorporate the rim with the assembly K wherein the hub H and spokes S are temporarily assembled into the leasing state onto the rim R, it is necessary to insert the foremost end of the spoke into a spoke hole 14 of the rim R and bring a nipple N into threaded engagement with a threaded portion 39 at the foremost end of the spoke S.
To this end, in the past, the threaded portion 39 of the spoke S has been inserted through the spoke hole 14 of the rim R by means of a spoke guide means disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 12685/1982, after which the nipple is tightened by a tightening means disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 48569/1981. (FIG. 23)
However, in case of the above-described prior method, at the time when the spoke S is inserted into the spoke hole 14, the inner circumferential surface of the rim R is liable to be scratched, which injures a valuable product.
This results from the above-described spoke guide. The spoke S of the assembly K is first deformed as shown in FIG. 23, and the threaded portion 39 is registered with the spoke hole 14 by means of a guide member, after which the curved state is released and the foremost end of the spoke S is inserted into the spoke hole 14.
In this case, if the spoke hole 14 is slightly deviated from the threaded portion 39, the foremost end of the threaded portion 39 abuts against the peripheral edge of the spoke hole 14 and is then inserted into the spoke hole 14, at which time, a scratch occurs.
(5) Fastening step for temporarily tightened spokes (Japanese Patent Publication No. 30747/1977)
See attached FIG. 42:
The representative apparatus of this kind is a fastening machine for a spoke nipple of a wheel, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 30747/1977.
According to this application, a wheel with spokes of the assembly K temporarily tightened (hereinafter referred to as a wheel W) is attached to an intermittently rotating table A, driver devices 9 are radially arranged from the center of rotation of the table in the outer circumference of the table, each driver device being disposed movably forward and backward along the radial line, and rotating and stopping timing of the intermittently rotating table A, forward and backward operating timing of the driver devices 9, and fastening operating timing of the driver devices 9 are set to a predetermined timing. (See FIG. 42)
In this case, when this apparatus is actuated after the wheel W in the temporarily assembled state has been set on the table A, nipples for spokes arranged in the outer circumferential surface of the rim are successfully fastened.
However, in this conventional arrangement, when an error in the nipple arranging pitch of the nipples is present, a fastening error is liable to result from the driver device 9.
The driver devices are positioned independently of the wheel W, and tools 92 of the driver devices are moved advanced toward the nipples and fastened when the table A stops. Therefore, when the error in the stop position of the table A and the error in the arranging pitch of the nipples are combined, the tool portions are not correctly opposed to the nipples when the driver devices are advanced, bringing forth the inferior fastening.